Nov 23 (Reuters) - Canada-based Yamana Gold Inc and its wholly owned subsidiary Brio Gold Inc have started a private placement of Brio shares, Yamana said on Monday, a move that will reduce its stake in the unit to around 21 percent.

The placement will consist of a primary offering of Brio Gold shares and a secondary share offering by Yamana.

Based on this placement, Brio Gold’s value would be around $369.3 million, Yamana said in a statement.

Yamana created Brio in December 2014 by parceling off some of its non-core Brazilian assets into a subsidiary. It said in April that it planned to list Brio in the third quarter as a way to monetize the assets.

The majority of the funds from the primary offering will be used to recommission Brio’s C1 Santa Luz mine, which is expected to contribute 100,000 ounces of gold a year at full production.

Yamana said it will raise around $208.5 million before fees and commissions from the sale of most of its Brio stake. The funds will be used for “general corporate purposes,” it said. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Richard Chang and Lisa Shumaker)